🚀DIF Monthly #23

Table of contents

1. Foundation News; 2. Group Updates; 3. Member Updates; 4. Funding; 5. DIF Media; 6. Members; 7. events; 8. Jobs; 9. Metrics; 10. Join DIF

🚀 Foundation News

• DIF Comms
  • ToIP & DIF published a Joint Public Statement of Support for Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) v1.0 specification becoming a W3C Standard
  • Weekly open Comms calls (see DIF Calendar) continue to be a great venue for generating ideas and collecting feedback from our members. All are welcome, so do drop in!

🛠️ Group Updates

☂️ InterOp WG (cross-community)

• Ongoing focus: Information accessibility and collection
  • Information accessibility: How to better structure information, such as the "faq" and the meeting notes for both members and external readers?
  • Information collection: How do we make it easier to contribute and encourage better editing, is this needed? How to best surface pages/examples?
  • Debate about whether to use github for WG notes
  • David, Chris, Balazs, Juan and Snorre to meet for a tooling meeting 19th Aug to discuss and painpoints related to documentation efforts and WG info presentation (open to all membership).
• Business models and self-sovereignty problems (report-out from IIW mini-conference)
  • Win-win-win solutions and multi-sided marketplaces
  • Interop problems & business model problems: how to move around credentials
• Meeting time change discussion - poll to be run soon
  • Consult with Asian working group specifically to gauge demand/interest in joining the interop call

💡 Identifiers & Discovery

• Universal Resolver Work Item calls have come to an end, work will continue at the main I&D WG, Slack and GitHub - Blog article announcement

🛡️ Claims & Credentials

• Workitem Status: WACI-PEX
• Workitem Status: PE (Maintenance) + Credential Manifest
• Workitem Status: VC Marketplace
• DIF Grant : Blog post about JWS Test Suite - Status update on submissions, regular meeting time for test suite work item set at next meeting

🔓 DID Auth

• SIOP special calls have been making a steady progress, Following are notable changes introduced to a SIOP v2 spec
• Introduced DID Resolution method as part of RP Registration metadata section. When SIOP request is signed, RP’s client_id can be a DID and SIOP can obtain a key signing the request from RP’s DID Doc. The rest of the RP metadata must be obtained from a registration parameter in the SIOP request.
• Introduced Dynamic SIOP Discovery metadata option. When RP has pre-obtained SIOP’s issuer identifier, it can use OpenID Connect Discovery to obtain SIOP’s metadata, namely authorication_endpoint. When Dynamic discovery is used iss in the ID Token in SIOP response must be a SIOP issued identifier and NOT self-issued.me/v2
• OIDC4VP specification has been stable with minimum changes. Work on a spec how to issue VCs using OpenID Connect (which has an option to use Credential Manifest) is also happening, so stay tuned!

📻 DID Comm

• 18 October 2021
• Discussion of Potential DIDComm Users Group
• IIW Sessions Review
  • Tour of DIDComm Libraries - Alex & Slava
  • DIDComm Mythconceptions - Daniel
  • Future of DIDComm -> IETF Movement (didn't happen)
  • DIDComm Protocols - Sam
  • Moving medical data over DIDComm - community member
• P2PLib & DIDComm - Oliver
• There is a general sense that the next version of DIDComm will be at IETF. But DIF can still remain the home of the DIDComm User's Group. The User's Group can become the focus for implementation help, maintain didcomm.org, and work on the Implementer's Guide.
• Pull Requests
• Issue Triage - pending close and needs discussion
• Tasks - PR Needed Issues

📦 Secure Data Storage

• Notes - EDV Dedicated Call
  • Reviewed PRs; 151
  • Reviewed Issues; 37, 49, 5

🔧 KERI

• reorganization of the WG is in process
• proposal for new work items
• CESR or CESR-like encoding for cryptographic material
• compound data representations, events, attachment model, transport representation* authentic log/microledger structure and validation rules
• potential use-cases for KERI-like systems beyond identifiers
• did:keri method resolver/spec - ID working group?
• general structure of components to bring into a spec eventually
• proposal to do work elsewhere or depending on IETF work

🌱 Applied Crypto WG

• bbs signatures
• had biweekly meeting with some new attendees
• bof secure software supply chain
• made contact with counterparts in the OpenSSF (open secure software foundation)
• cbb data encoding
  • boiling down requirements - why can't existing schemes do this?
• cbb service protocol
  • discussions around requirements
• JSON Web Proof
  • JWT is built as a layer above JWS
  • JWP was originally thought of as a single layer, but now we're looking at a multi-signing layer, followed by a claims layer.
  • designing it so that it can be used with ZKP pairing friendly curves, as well as single use presentations from traditional algorithms.
• revocation_methods_for_verifiable_credentials
  • Collected 8 methods
  • 3 additional methods w/o sufficient description
  • Discussed the testcase including numbers
  • Link to the google doc link where you can find the method list, the assessment setup and future results

✈️ Hospitality & Travel

• Discussion continues around customer journeys, and developing working models based on the existing use-cases identified by the group

🏦 Finance & Banking

• Presentations:
  • 2nd Nov 2021
    David Lutz - Advantage Digital Advisors & Kurtis Minder - GroupSense spoke on anticorrupion and cybercrime-fighting efforts, ransomware et al
  • 21st Oct 2021
    Tobias Halloran and Alex Tweedale - cheqd and their approach to SSI
  • 7th Oct 2021
    Pieterjan Uytterhoeven - Isabel Group discussed TruliUs, an SSI solution for businesses

🌏 APAC/ASEAN Open Call

• Discussion with ToIP continues about cohosting APAC calls in 2022
• Group Chair & SC Member Catherine is moderating a panel on Strong Authentication Solutions at Identity Week Asia
  Nov 16 – Nov 17
• 28 October
  • Niall Dennehy of AID:Tech presented their approach to using DeFi to deliver international aid and cooperate with NGOs and Governments
  • Affinidi schema Manager presentation: a tool to find and integrate schemas that are widely adopted or create a custom schema according to specific needs in JSON format
• 23 September
  • Digital Identity Infrastructure: Myanmar & Zada.io
    • Review of implemented COVIDPass, 10,000+ active members on Sovrin Mainnet

🌍 Africa Open Call

• 4 November
  Presentation from Nairobi Decentralized Identity project Gravity postponed until Dec 2

🦄 Member Updates

- Affinidi

• Explore and Build with Affinidi.
  Affinidi presents a wealth of content for developers, from the basics of VCs, all the way through building an SSI-based app. Learn the fundamentals and pillars of Web 3.0 framework, build SSI-based applications using an SDK, attend events and webinars, and even get certified on SSI.
  Sign up to Affinidi's developer portal here!

- DanubeTech

• Markus Sabadello of Danube Tech has published a YouTube video statement titled "Big Dreams", as a comment on the DID Core formal objections at the W3C. It is an attempt to give a personal account of some memories that underlie the DID effort.

- Jolocom

• Jolocom have recently published two blog articles articles on SSI
  • Can we avoid a (SSI) Babel? – Interoperability
  • Self Sovereign Identity ≠ Blockchain: Why you do not need a Blockchain for Self Sovereign Identities

💰 Funding

eSSIF-Lab

• eSSIF-Lab has just launched its final Open Call! Calling SMEs, not-for-profit entities or research organizations developing SSI working solutions or open-source components
• Apply if you are:
  • Developing a new SSI solution for the real-world
  • Developing business-oriented extensions to the eSSIF-Lab basic infrastructure
• Calling SMEs, not-for-profit entities or research organizations developing SSI working solutions or open-source components
• There's €53K available for each proposal selected!
• APPLY here

NGI Open Calls (EU)

• Funding is allocated to projects using short research cycles targeting the most promising ideas. Each of the selected projects pursues its own objectives, while the NGI RIAs provide the program logic and vision, technical support, coaching and mentoring, to ensure that projects contribute towards a significant advancement of research and innovation in the NGI initiative.
• The focus is on advanced concepts and technologies that link to relevant use cases, and that can have an impact on the market and society overall. Applications and services that innovate without a research component are not covered by this model.
• Varying amounts of funding.

Learn more here.

🖋️ DIF Media

• First DIF Grant Work Item has been completed
  • JWS Test Suite has been finished by Orie Steele (Transmute)
  • DIF Grants Program launched earlier this year and now, the work item awarded DIF's first grant in a collabration between DIF and Microsoft has been completed.
  • Consideration for award of further grants is ongoing. If you have any ideas or questions, reach out to us directly!

🎈 Events & Promotions

Identity Week Asia
Tueesday, Nov 16 – Wednesday, Nov 17

• APAC/Africa Group Chair & SC Member Catherine Nabbala is moderating a panel on Strong Authentication Solutions 17th Nov

Affinidi Webinar
Thursday, November 25th

• As countries prepare to reopen their borders and businesses, digital credentials can ensure a safe travel experience for everyone involved. But what are the challenges that come with it? How can we continue to leverage these credentials beyond COVID?
  Join the event here

💼 Jobs

Members of the Decentralized Identity Foundation are looking for:

• Software Engineer - Decentralized Identity Foundation (DIF) Project Lead - Location: remote
• Software Engineer - Decentralized Identity Foundation (DIF) Project Lead - Location: remote/Flexible
• Community Manager - Location: Berlin, German-speaking
• Consultant (junior/senior) - Location: Berlin, German-speaking
• SDK Developer (midlevel/senior) - (Javascript, Typescript, NodeJS) - Location: Berlin
• Senior Backend Engineer - Location: Remote
• Senior Frontend Lead - Location: Remote

Check out the available positions here.

🔢 Metrics

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Twitter: 4.931 followers | 14.2k impressions | 4k profile visits
Website: 22.46k unique visitors
Youtube: 200 unique visitors

In the last 30 days.

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